Still searching for the dull day in history and September 15, 1980 wasn't one of them. The Hostage crisis was still going on, with new demands coming from Iran. Carter Campaign Manager Tim Kraft took a leave of absence amid charges of cocaine use (that still raised eyebrows in 1980).
Bob Edwards (NPR Morning Edition): “President Carter is without a key man in his campaign this morning. Tim Kraft, the national Carter-Mondale Campaign Manager is taking a leave of absence, while the Special Prosecutor investigates charges that Kraft used cocaine when he was a member of the President’s staff. Those claims were made by a White House aide to a Special Prosecutor who was investigating similar charges against Hamilton Jordan, who was then White House Chief of Staff and now a top Carter strategist.”
Detroit laid off 15% of its Police force. Strikes were popular in September, with teachers all over the country going on strike, Actors on strike, Air-Traffic Controllers were thinking about going on strike. Turkey was heading into Martial Law. We were still knee-deep in recession and it was pretty much a mess everywhere.
Sort of like today only thirty years later.
